(San Francisco, CA)- This year’s J/Fest regatta hosted by St Francis YC
had an excellent turnout of fifty boats and the J/Tribe were treated to a
wet & wild weekend of sailing in classic 15-25 kt breezes that are
part of any Bay sailor’s weekend repertoire. Five one-design J classes
were sailing- J/24s, J/70s, J/105s, J/111s and J/120s.Starting with the “classics”, the eight-boat J/24 fleet was treated to a complete “schooling” of how to sail in the challenging conditions. While they’ve sailed well in the past, it was Mike Whitfield’s crew on TMC RACING that simply went into “turbo mode” and despite attempts by Launch Control in Houston to throttle them back, managed to go ballistic and nail down four bullets to win by a commanding ten points. Despite their dominance, the rest of the pack was in a “cat fight” for the top five. Those scores were not settled until the last race when Paul van Ravenswaay’s crew from Severn Sailing Association (yup, of Annapolis fame) took their whacked-out FEERAL ROOSTER (not avian flu influenced) and took their Bay hosts to task to snag a 2nd in the last race to take second overall. Third was locals Alex Schultink’s appropriately named FLY BY NIGHT from Berkeley YC.
Next
on the totem pole were the J/70s. As every quarter goes by, it’s clear
that Bay area sailors are beginning to look towards not only the J/70
North Americans in San Diego in September 2015, but many are focused on
the 2016 J/70 World Championship to be sailed in San Francisco Bay in
2016! Consequently, the names at the top of the leaderboard keep
changing all the time as veteran Bay teams keep re-balancing and new
teams jump into the fray to try their hand at insanely close one-design
racing. Fun times were had by all, that’s for sure. A new face in the
crowd topped the 70 class, Scott Seller’s 1FA sailed an amazing series
to post just one win, but hammered home four 2nds to win by seven points
in a very competitive class. Just behind them, it was truly a fight at
the OK Corral worthy of a John Wayne “western cowboy movie”. The
protagonists included Justin Kromelow’s LOOSE LUCY, Chris Kostanecki’s
JENNIFER and Peter Cameron’s PRIME NUMBER. After three races, LOOSE
LUCY had the upper hand, but it was not clear-cut what was happening on
the last day of racing. On the last day, Kostanecki’s JENNIFER won a
race, so did Cameron’s PRIME NUMBER. In the end, LOOSE LUCY won a
tie-break over JENNIFER to take 2nd and 3rd, respectively. For the only
boat to win two races, Pete Cameron’s crew must be asking “WTF”
happened in races 2 & 3?? While winning the last race was an
emphatic plus, it only enabled them to secure 4th for the regatta.
Fifth place was Bob Milligan’s RAMPAGE from Richmond YC.
The
popular J/105 class continues to gain new adherents to their fleet
after nearly 20 years of sailing on the Bay. Sailors have included the
world’s best restaurant creators (Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK), to
world famous venture capitalists (Jim Swartz), and software
technologists (Larry Ellison of ORACLE fame). Such diversity has
enabled a universe of fun-loving sailors like Andy Grove (bowman on one
J/105 and Chairman/CEO of INTEL) to experience what it’s like to take a
wall of saltwater into their faces at 50F at 30 kts and live to
recollect their experience with friends forever. This year’s J/Fest for
the twenty-one boat J/105 fleet was typical. After a disastrous first
race, Phil Laby’s crew on GODOT found the “secret sauce” and ran away
with the regatta- posting an 11-4-4-1-1 to win the tie-breaker on 21 pts
with colleague Jeff Littfin on MOJO. Not far off was Adam Spiegel’s
JAM SESSION sitting on 27 pts in third. Also starting slowly and
climbing fast was Bruce Stone’s ARBITRAGE to take 4th and in 5th was
Doug Bailey’s AKULA.The J/111s are gaining a nice following on the Bay and the class is enjoying close racing. Nevertheless, for the first time in awhile one crew stood out with an incredibly strong performance, Dorian McKelvy’s MADMEN! Perhaps running the table with five straight 1st places helps! With a strong win behind them, it was quite a battle for the balance of the podium. After posting a strong performance on the last day, Richard Swanson’s BAD DOG pulled off 2nd place over their colleagues Nesrin Basoz on SWIFT NESS from Richmond YC.
As one might expect, the J/120s are never predictable. Crew, tacticians, skipper hangovers, and good Lord what not, it’s by far the most unpredictable of fleets. One thing is for sure, they have fun! This regatta, the protagonists were Barry Lewis’ CHANCE and David Halliwill’s PEREGRINE. After trading 1st and 2nds, it was CHANCE that won the last race to gain the upper hand and win in the end. Taking third was another top boat, Steve Madeira’s lovely deep green colored MR MAGOO. Sailing photo credits- Erik Simonson/ H2oshots.com For more J/Fest San Francisco sailing information
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